Should all elections require NOTA?

• The Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy has filed a PIL for the inclusion of NOTA as an option in every election, even if there is only one candidate.

• NOTA was introduced in Indian elections for the first time in 2013 on a PIL filed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties.

• The Election Commission (EC) opposes making NOTA a compulsory option in all constituencies, citing a rarity of uncontested elections.

• The EC’s argument is that treating NOTA as mandatorily contesting candidate in all direct uncontested elections would require legislative amendments.

• Despite the rarity of uncontested elections, the EC believes that holding elections with a NOTA option, even if there is only one candidate, should not amount to a lot of additional work.

• Notably, only 1% of voters voted for NOTA in the three Lok Sabha elections (2014, 2019 and 2024) since NOTA was introduced.

• The EC suggests reforms such as fixing the minimum percentage of votes to be polled by the candidate as a benchmark for getting elected depending on the size of the constituency.

• Sanjay Kumar, Professor and Co-director Lokniti-CSDS, suggests making a provision for re-election if a certain percentage of voters opt for NOTA in an election.